AdHoc Presents

Wilderado

Duncan Fellows, SEGO

May 4th

8:00 pm

Kings

$12-$15

This event is all ages

An arresting confluence of soaring melodies, lush harmonies, and driving indie rock, the EP is the band’s most collaborative work yet, bearing the distinctive writing influence and unique sonic sensibilities of all four members (lead singer/guitarist Max Rainer, bassist/vocalist Colton Dearing, guitarist/vocalist Tyler Wimpee, and drummer Justin Kila). Recorded with production mastermind Phil Ek (Father John Misty, Fleet Foxes), ‘Favors’ marks the dawn of a new era for Tulsa rockers Wilderado, as their already-epic sound pushes into more nuanced and mature territory than ever before.

From the slow-and-steady build of ‘You Don’t Love Me” to the explosive power “Siren,” the collection elevates the grandeur and drama of the band’s arrangements without sacrificing any of the grit or muscle behind it. “We wanted big guitars, big cymbals, big drums, big vocals, but we still wanted it to come across pretty,” explains Rainer. Indeed, beauty is the EP’s hallmark: the beauty of radical honesty, the beauty of self-actualization, the beauty of metamorphosis. The songs offer up candid slices of self-reflection, unafraid look critically in the mirror as they juxtapose magnificent musical arrangements with lacerating lyrics and heartrending deliveries, but ultimately, they’re not about judgment at all. Instead, the music celebrates the growth that comes from turning weakness into strength, from pushing beyond the boundaries what previously seemed possible in order to fully become yourself.

‘Favors’ follows a pair of EPs—‘Misty Shrub’ and ‘Latigo’—and a collection of singles released to widespread critical acclaim, with Consequence of Sound hailing Wilderado’s music as “glorious” and Paste lauding its “South-Central Americana-meets-Laurel Canyon vibe.” Praise across the pond was similarly effusive, with NME highlighting the band’s “impressive harmonies” and Clash falling for their “natural grace.” The tunes racked up more than 15 million streams on Spotify and helped the group earn festival performances from Bonnaroo to Sasquatch in addition to dates with Band of Horses, Lindsey Buckingham & Christine McVie, Judah & The Lion, and more.

On the sweltering, quiet corner of Duncan Lane there stood a wide one-story house with six bedrooms and fourteen inhabitants. During the summer of 2012 the house's AC system failed, leaving the residents languid and dazed. The landlord was of disconnected affect and refused to repair the life-giving rotating fan... thus, great strife befell the house. Roaches began an invasion of the east wing, advancing at great speed to the kitchen trash. It was here that Colin Harman and Cullen Trevino first met and began to write songs. Not long after, the band Duncan Fellows formed.
After independently releasing two EPs, Twelve Months Older (2013) and Marrow (2015), the Fellows hit the road with Houndmouth through the southeast and Joseph on a run of sold out dates along the west coast. Eager to release new music, DF went into the studio in early 2017 to record their debut LP Both Sides of the Ceiling, resulting in a multidimensional shift both sonically and personally for the band.
The release of Both Sides of the Ceiling in August 2017 revealed a fresh upbeat sound that catapulted them to the forefront of the Austin indie music scene. Rooted in catchy riffs and candid harmonies, their newfound sound has seen airplay on hometown favorite KUTX as well as Spotify’s Feel Good Indie Rock playlist with nearly a million followers. Fan favorite and lead single "Fresh Squeezed" packed a punch on streaming platforms garnering over a million plays, showcasing the band's versatility from contemplative to tongue-in-cheek lyricism.
Their effortlessly charismatic stage presence and high energy sets led to a U.S. tour with Middle Kids in addition to their massive debut at hometown music festival Austin City Limits 2018. Riding off of the success of Both Sides of the Ceiling, they hit the road with Post Animal + Ron Gallo in February 2019 and plan to continue touring and release new music in the Spring.

“U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” Not what one would expect to hear chanted vehemently from the members of an indie rock band in 2019… But Sego seems to get off on doing things one wouldn’t expect from an LA indie band today. Being proficient at their instruments instead of relying on computer tracks to play their new album Sego Sucks live, recording said album in a church in far away Canada in the winter, thus committing to the deliberate notion of an album more than an amalgamation of 'laptop studio' singles. And yes, chanting “USA, USA, USA” as the main reprise of a reflective tune about entitlement culture. One must ask why? Why take it there? Or one may not ask and instead bounce and bop their way through each energetic turn, just happy to have their blood pump a little faster than the “everything chill all the time” pace that we’ve all become accustomed to.

And therein lies the trick of Sego. It’s a gosh-damn choose your own adventure story of music for adrenaline huffers and introspective socio-philosophical types alike. Not that the two are mutually exclusive.

I would say Sego hails from Utah, but when does anyone say that someone ‘hails’ from anywhere other than in gratuitous band bios, ya know? Sego is not only aware that their Utah upbringing is different from most Angeleno transplants, but they exhibit a sense of pride in the perspective it has given them. Perhaps this is why singer Spencer Petersen finds ways to separate himself from the status quo. Like using a flip-phone still. And recording interludes with one of the many tape machines he has stock-piled in his studio. Sego Sucks is the cathartic result of a person like Spencer sorting his way through a natural resistance to being smothered by Modernism.

Sonically, the 10-track LP is woven with the changes of becoming a four piece band. Originally Spencer Petersen and Thomas Carroll, the band added members Alyssa Davey on bass and Brandon McBride on guitars and keys in 2018. The sound became more focused, but the raucous spirit that has kept people sweating since the beginning is just as tangible and, dare I say, primal as ever. The extensive touring they’ve done throughout North America, Europe, and the UK has also shown to be a strong influence. There’s heat, there’s resistance, there’s intelligence. Did Sego fool us and write a modern day punk album that could be played on the radio?

To go to a Sego show is to be standing amongst very different people having very different experiences. To your left is someone intently staring at Spencer digging through his many acid-tongued references trying to decipher his cryptic slant on absolutism. Behind you is a gear-nut scratching their heads trying to understand what far corner of the brain one can write such dissonantly triumphant guitar parts. In front of you is someone falling in love with Tom, Brandon or Alyssa depending on who the light falls upon in any given moment… or perhaps all 4 at the same time, the way it was always intended to happen when a band is really a band. But perhaps most common is the person to your right, who is dripping in sweat, dancing with their eyes closed and losing themselves completely in an anoetic experience particular to when music is being played live. And loud.

While only on their sophomore album, Sego exhibits the kind of maturity in songwriting and pride in a live performance that makes for the band that your cool older brother worships and turns you on to the second your frontal lobe develops enough to spark your curiosity in taste.